2009/04/19
I leave tomorrow for Beijing. I'll be there for a week!
Jeanette had to go for two days for work, and I suggested that she extend her trip by a day or two to see the city and to hang out with my best friend from college, who has lived in China for three years. She said, "No, it would be weird. I've never even met him. It would be different if you were there." So I said, "Hmmm... why can't I be there?" We looked up flights, and found a roundtrip direct SFO->Beijing for $800! So she extended her stay, and I managed to extract myself from various work projects for that week.
Because my friend has lived in China for three years, language barriers may be less of a problem than they otherwise would be. We're all up for anything, food-wise and I'd love to try crazy stuff not available in the U.S. What unique culinary experiences can we have?
Also, from all my research, many sources I've consulted it seemsed that there is basically no haute cuisine in Beijing. Can anyone state otherwise? But others have said differently. The best restaurants appear to be places like Da Dong, or Made In China, which I'm sure are delicious, but seem basically like the equivalent of Bobby Flay or Wolfgang Puck's nth restaurant in America.
Anyway, I'm very, very excited.
Posted by Barzelay on 2009/04/19 @ 23:50 | Comments (11) | Food Politics and Culture
Comments
David,
Have a safe flight and a wonderful time! I want to hear all about it when you both get back.
Posted by: Mrs. T. at April 20, 2009 11:49 AM
A guy from my school is the Chef at Domus. His name is Guillaume Comparat. Might be worth a look
No. 115 Nan Chi Zi Street, Dongcheng District
Beijing, China
Posted by: Roberto N. at April 20, 2009 12:21 PM
Hi. Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but I saw a terrific segment on some pre-Olympic show featuring "Alameda" restaurant in Beijing
Owned by a Brazilian chef, using local ingredients....
http://www.btmbeijing.com/contents/en/btm/2005-04/featurestory4/feature44
Posted by: MyLastBite at April 20, 2009 12:59 PM
Having just gone to Beijing, I recommend just letting someone who knows the city take you to their favorite places. My girlfriend's parents have lived there for years, and food runs in the family, including another daughter who has worked in Michelin-starred kitchen. That was a great help in deciding where to eat. If they're not into food, have them ask a friend. You won't be able to order for yourself anyway (unless you happen to speak chinese). I can't remember the names of places we went to, just the types of food they specialized in. Since Beijing is a melting pot of Chinese cultures, you can try almost any type of food there. So, go get dumplings, get Szechuan, get Beijing noodle, get stinky tofu, get Guizhou food (which I particularly enjoyed), eat lots of street food, eat Muslim food (spicy, full of cumin, and heavy), go get drunk in a Chinese bar (lots of fun), etc. Try anything they put in front of you.
As for your claim about haute cuisine in Beijing, um, it's not true. There's plenty of haute cuisine, both Western (e.g. Maison Boulud) and Chinese. I can't speak for made in China, but Da Dong is a serious restaurant, not a Bobby Flay shitshow. The cooks there are trained cooks, and their craft is serious. I only had the duck, which is excellent, but their specialties are in treating rare and weird ingredients like sea cucumber. If you're into that, try it. It's not haute cuisine as we know it, but it's taken with the same seriousness. The service is the only thing that's really different. It's a different culinary paradigm, but it's haute cuisine nonetheless. However, they do have their own MG restaurants, high-end sushi, and other such things if you want them.
I have heard good things about that Alameda place, though I would recommend sticking to Chinese food. You won't even scratch the surface of what there is on offer in that city. It's pretty amazing. Enjoy.
Posted by: The Gourmet Pig at April 20, 2009 4:02 PM
Domus and Alameda look good, but I'm thinking we'll probably stick to Chinese food. But if we get sick of it and want something Western, we'll definitely consider those.
I'm glad to hear that you thought highly of Da Dong. It looked great to me, but then I've heard very mixed things. It's tough to trust the recommendations of people whose eating habits you're not well-acquainted with. One of my work colleagues, who is Chinese, and whose parents were chefs, said Da Dong is mediocre, and sources mediocre ingredients including hormone-pumped, young, flavorless ducks that are far too lean. He said that Made In China, however, is wonderful. Another friend said basically the opposite about each place. I'm sure all of these places, which are serving hundreds of ducks per night between all their locations, are getting crazy factory duck, and yet I still think it will probably be delicious. But either way, I've heard a lot of bad stuff about all of the big duck places (Da Dong, Li Qun, Made In China, Quan Ju De) in additional to a lot of good, so it has lowered my expectations. I'm further skeptical due to the fact that most of them now have at least three or four branches throughout Beijing. In the U.S., that's a warning sign.
I had forgotten all about your Beijing trip. I will now go reference your posts. Thanks.
Posted by: Barzelay at April 20, 2009 5:36 PM
China isn't really into the celebrity chef or haute cuisine thing, but there are certainly specialties to be eaten! Beijing roast duck for sure. Do NOT let taxi drivers take you to tourist restaurants like QuanJuDe (it's overpriced and not that good)--ask your friend and other locals where to get the best stuff. Other Beijing specialties are "zha jiang mian" and dumplings. I highly recommend finding a big night market and trying the street food, but be careful because the hygiene won't be that great. I wouldn't recommend trying cuisines from other regions of China, because preferences and cuisine differ hugely by province and most of the Sichuan, Xinjiang, Mongolian, etc. food you eat will have been "adjusted" to better suit Beijing natives' palates.
Posted by: Leslie at April 20, 2009 7:48 PM
To extrapolate on what I'd said...my girlfriend's sister is a cook (Michelin-restaurant type), and she now lives in Beijing. She's cooked in Chinese restaurants. From talking to her, it seems that Da Dong is still revered as a quality place to train as a chef. Again, I can't speak for everyone in Beijing, but I found the duck was excellent. I don't know if you read Bauer's blog, but this discussion
Of course, as you mention, it depends what kind of person you talk to. For my girlfriend's parents, who don't really see value in fine dining, the difference in quality between Da Dong and a lesser place isn't worth the money. (Thankfully, they still took us to Da Dong). Da Dong is significantly more expensive. As for the locals we met, and the expats who had been there a long time, they still differ on what the best place is. For many of them who earn a Chinese salary, it's going to be a different interpretation than someone like us, for whom even Da Dong (at maybe $25 a person without booze) is a steal. However, there was still a pretty strong opinion that Da Dong was still one of the best, even if it had gone downhill. Whether or not that's true would take a lot of duck eating and many years in Beijing to find out.
As for ingredients, don't expect California quality, even in the best places. Agriculture there is still pretty backwards. I'm not sure that Da Dong's ducks are the best quality, but I don't know that you'd find better quality somewhere else. No Liberty Farms there.
And for Leslie's comment about the cuisines from other provinces, you'll still find the Sichuan, Muslim, and other provincial cuisines much superior to here. If you want some diversity in your dinners there, definitely try them out. Again, being a tourist isn't like living there. However, talking to locals/expats, it seems that there's enough of a critical mass of each region's people in Beijing to provide authentic food from each cuisine. If anything, try Guizhou cuisine. It's close to Beijing, and it's delicious. And go with Chinese people if you can. They'll take your ordering of the spiciest level of Sichuan food more seriously. I'm pretty sure they diluted the spice in ours a bit (we were all Americans that night), though it was still hot as balls.
And DUMPLINGS! I'll try and find out the name of the place we went to. It was some hole in the wall, but it was amazing.
Posted by: The Gourmet Pig at April 22, 2009 10:47 AM
I've been in Beijing for two days now. We went to Da Dong our first night. I thought it was very good. All the presentations were spectacular. The duck was, I thought, mediocre, but everything else we had was awesome. The braised sea cucumber was one of the best things I've ever eaten. It was very surprising.
I've also had good random dim sum, and a very fancy "Asian fusion" restaurant in a ridiculously modern boutique hotel. It was called "Bei," and the hotel was the Opposite House. The foie gras was awesome quality, sashimi (especially the scallop and ebi) were great. The wagyu beef was not very good quality, and a roasted hamachi collar was okay with bad accompaniments. On the whole, it was good, but not great, and at around $60USD per person, it was too pricey for Beijing.
Posted by: Barzelay at April 23, 2009 11:37 PM
Be thankful you didn't get the "Spring Hors D'ouvre" at Da Dong. Da-sgusting is more like it. Ewww.
Maison Boulud is actually pretty good--a great deal, for sure. I think you'd enjoy Blu Lobster, as well. Oh, and SALT.
For good sizchuan, try the province's embassy north of the Summer Palace.
Posted by: Secular Gastronomy at April 24, 2009 1:22 PM
here's a suggestion...
Guo-li-zhuang a la zimmerman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc0KV3NvmNw
try uyghur food as well. it's fantastic!
Posted by: peaceyall at April 28, 2009 1:19 PM
Eat beijing duck, the best place is Quanjude
More to see: http://www.beijingfeeling.com/beijing-travel/eat-in-beijing/
Posted by: Eat in beijing at June 12, 2011 4:08 AM